How to turn a negative review site to your advantage and use it to actually grow your clinic.

I mentioned in the last blog that a technique that is commonly used to remove negative online reviews is to build mini-sites, optimizing them where they begin to rank high on Google and consequently, knocking down the negative review site so that they drop further and further in Google’s ranking so no one will find them.

Although this can be an effective technique, the problem lies in the fact that Google gives such authority to these sites and ranks them so high that it’s very hard to drop their ranking.  As such, it can take a very VERY long time to see results

Actual Post of a Chiropractor on RateMDs

In fact, by the time you’re able to bury these sites, it may be too late and you’ll have been forced to close down your clinic.

So action needs to be swift and effective and since the majority of your potential patients are going to see these reviews before coming to see you, you have turn these sites into your favor.

More important than being swift and effective, is that every step of your efforts have to be done correctly right from the start.

Actual Post of a Chiropractor on RateMDs

As mentioned in my last blog, having your patients respond to these negative comments with positive comments is a very powerful way.  However, since writing the last blog, I had a number of docs emailing me stating that instead of having their patients write a positive review, they did it themselves.  That is to say, the docs wrote fake reviews.

The result… they were called out on it!  Meaning, people posted on the thread that the doc wrote comments themselves and that they were completely fictional, therefore further destroying their credibility.  And overcoming this is unbelievably hard.  Sadly, even legitimate comments can be detrimental to you as they too can also be mistakenly called out as fake

But there is a better way and like I just mentioned, it’s by turning these harmful review site(s) into practice building and reputation building engines!

How do you do that?

Before I answer that, let me state this… in order to have skeptical people listen to you, you have talk to them where they are most at ease, most comfortable and more importantly, where they are most receptive and open to your message.

And where is that? 

At their home!

Now you’re probably saying “Why would anyone let me into their house to allow me to explain myself?”

Well, I’m not asking you to do that, but…

If you were to do that and they did let you in, you’d know for certain that they’re interested in hearing what you had to say, that they’d give you a chance to explain and that they’d probably be more willing to come to your office as a new patients after they heard your side of the story. Right? Right.

Well, fortunately with the technology of today, you can reach these people at their homes without even stepping inside.  And it comes in the way of “WEBINARS”.  That is, live online seminars that you can perform in front of your webcam that people can watch on their computers from the comfort of their home.

So going back to my last point, if people were to let you in their homes (by watching you live on their computer) aren’t they giving you a chance to explain yourself?  Wouldn’t they be more receptive to your message?  And wouldn’t they be more likely to give you a chance and book a consultation with you? 

Answer… Ya, they would be!

So here’s the simple and highly effective method to turn these negative online review sites to your benefit and build up your practice once again.

Simply write a post on the site, of course within the thread where all negative comments are, and say something to the effect…

“Hello All, This is Dr. X and I was told of these comments from a patient of mine who saw them.  Needless to say, I am shocked and saddened by these comments as we at {clinic name} have always made it our mission to provide the best care possible to our patients in a warm and loving environment.

Although, it’s impossible to help everyone, we do everything we can for all of our patients.  But there are some patients that have not been satisfied and have decided to post on this site. 

We would like to set the record straight and we invite everyone to watch and talk to us live online, from the comfort of your home, in an open Q&A format where I will answer all you questions and show you what our clinic is really like.

Please give us a chance to explain and join us on every {Date & Time} by going to {webinar domain} and just for taking the time to listen to us, we would also like to give you a special gift..
Yours,
Dr. X”

Before I get more into webinars, let me address the above invitation.

Again, these review sites are going to be ranked high on Google for a long, long time and you have to address these comments right away and show the readers that you have nothing to hide and that you want to re-establish your good name.

Write in an informal and humble manner so that you appear like real down to earth person and not some stuck up doctor.
Having positive comments is one thing, but allowing people to actually see you, relate to you and be able to have their concerns answered, is priceless and so much more powerful in re-establishing yourself.

Now, there are going to essentially be two types of people that are going to make a point of watching you. People who are wanting to hear you out and give you a chance to explain yourself and people that are curious to see the doc that everyone is bashing.

Either way, these are all potential new patients.  NOT ONLY THAT, but when these people get to know the real you and realize how caring you are and how you have been misrepresented, not only will they come in as potential patients, but they will spread the word about you AND may even write a positive post on the review site.

So over time, not only will you save your clinic from shutting down, but you’ll gain new patients and more importantly, the negative comments on the review site will simply be disregarded by visitors.
To be maximally effective, I recommend that you hold a live webinar every week for about 30 mins in order to reach as many people as you can.

Side Note:  Once you see how powerful webinars are, you will most likely continue to do them for all your Health Care Talks, Lunch & Learns, Health Care Booths etc. because you’ll not only will you be able to reach the people right in front of you,  but you’ll always be able to reach the 100’s if not 1000’s of people online.  Imagine how many new patients you can now potentially get!!

Where can you go to find a webinar service?

Well, there are several that you can find online.  One of the best is Gotomeeting, but for the most part, they are all quite good.  But there are a few drawbacks with these services.

1.    Cost: - Because you shave to pay every time you use their service, pay for the length of your webinar, the number of attendees and up-sell features (e.g. webinar host/co-ordinator) it can get quite expensive.

2.    Different Access Code - every time you hold a webinar, you’ll be given a different access code to give to your attendees. So instead of posting just one time for all your upcoming webinars, you’ll have to make several posts.  Problem with this is that review sites will most likely block your posts as they will be deemed similar.  As such, your future webinars won’t have attendees
.
3.    Webinar is not linked to your website – webinar services are not attachable or embeddable into your website.  This is a major downfall because viewer of your webinar may want to get more information about your clinic so having the webinar embedded into your website makes your information easily accessible to your visitors and increases the likelihood of them booking an appointment.  People are fundamentally lazy and the more steps it takes to get something, the less likely people will take action. So without having your webinar embedded, you will lose potential patients.

4.    No downloadable options – skeptical people generally will not make quick decisions nor making financial commitments.  So during  your webinar, viewers should have the option of downloading a Gift Certificate with some sort of promotional  offer (e.g. FREE examination and Initial treatment)

But there is a better way. A better webinar option and it successfully addresses all of the above issues and allows you to maximize your viewer-to-new patient conversion.

In addition, you can now hold as many webinars as you want and at any length of time as you want. 
And the best part… the cost is pennies!

Promodocs chiropractic website developers have created built-in website webinar feature (exclusive to Promodocs chiropractic websites) that allows you to direct viewers to your website to watch your live webinars without the need for access codes and continuous posts.    Thus making your posts much more effective in being able to reach a larger audience.

In addition, Promodocs chiropractic website designs have also incorporated into their websites Event Calendars where you can post upcoming webinars and events (e.g. Health Care Talks, Lunch & Learns, Trade show Booths etc.) that your online visitors can make note of and attend.

Lastly and more importantly, after performing your compelling webinar, your online viewers can take immediate action by utilizing your Promodocs Fillable Online Intake form and Online Patient Scheduler so that they can quickly and easily schedule an appointment with your office.

Thus having an all incompassing website webinar feature is so vitally important in getting new patients because you want to make everything easily accessible for your online visitors to book a consult after you have them pumped up about you and your clinic. 

Of course the decision is up to you.  So whether you use a Promodocs site or a webinar service, it is imperative that you take action immediately, allow visitors of the negative review sites to get to know the real you and to build back up your clinic.

So we are down to the last few ways of the 100 Ways for Passive Patient Acquisition for your chiropractic office!!

But before I begin the final count down, let me mention this...

after I wrote about putting an ad on Groupon in Part I (I know some of you are puking right now thinking that an ad on Groupon is devaluing chiropractic, but like I said, some of these ways that I have suggested, you may not approve with), a few weeks later, when I was checking out Groupon on my iPhone, I saw a chiropractor who had an ad for his/her decompression treatments and if memory serves, I think that in the end there were 390 purchases! That's to say... 390 potentially NP within less than one month!

In the ad  the doc was charging $35 for I think, 3 treatments (the average cost of a single treatments is usually around $200).   But here's the thing...a standard spinal decompression rehab protocol is 20 visits.  So the doc may have lost some money at the start of the treatment plan, but he/she gained massive amounts of new patients and income.

Now, some of you may be thinking  this doc got these patients who were looking for a deal and the people that they refer, may only come expecting a similar deal.  However, this can be squashed by making sure that patients know that this is a one shot deal and does not apply for any other person.

Anyways... just something to consider.


When you're done reading this blog scroll to the bottom. We at Promodocs would like to send you a free gift...NO STRINGS ATTACHED...  it's just our way of saying thanks for all your support!


So here are the final 10 ways for Passive Patient Acquisition (ya, I know... we got up to 70 in the last blog... but if you go through the list, you will realize that in the end, I will have given you over a 100 different ways).

Oh ya... finally... these are in no particular order and again, you may not agree with them all, but as I said right from the start, I have essentially done all of these techniques and they have all brought in new patients.

So lets begin...

1. Gym Membership Packages - Often when new members sign up at a gym, they are given their contract in a card stock folder along with some promotional material associated with the gym.  My suggestion is to talk to the manager/owner and ask if it would be possible to put one of your promotional postcards in their new members package.  In return, you will give your new patients a promotional piece of theirs. New gym members are great potential new patients.

2. Market to Moving Companies - Who has more torn up spines than movers?  As with the Police station or fire department , give the head of human resources, owner and/or head manager a stack of promotional postcards that you have created specifically for moving companies..  Explain to the owners/managers how chiropractic can prevent injuries and down time for their workers. 

3. Webinars - This is HUGE!!!!  I mean M.A.S.S.I.V.E.!  Webinars are lectures or seminars that are done online - on the web ("Web" "Seminars")  As you probably already know, everyone searches on the internet for all their information and purchase making decisions.  In fact, online shopping is a multi-billion dollar industry because more and more people prefer to do things from the comfort of their homes.

As such, what better way to reach to your potential patients when they can watch you live from their home?  Where they are comfortable and more receptive to your message.

Many people (i.e. potential patients) may not come to your office simply because they are apprehensive about going to see you - Why?  Because they don't know you.  They may be skeptical of chiropractic or since there are so many chiros to choose from, they just don't know who to see and who to trust.  So imagine how many new patients you are losing on a daily basis because of this?!

But imagine being able to spread your message, build rapport and trust with these people without ever having seen them!

This is what webinars can do for you and why they are now essential to driving new patients to your office.

With webinars, you can have your lunch and learns, lay lectures, promotions (e.g. Health Fairs) and your chiropractic info session performed online for everyone on the web to see - LIVE- while you're performing them.  As such... your potential for new patient reach and acquisition is virtually unlimited!

There are some great webinar companies out there (e.g Go To Meeting), but they can be expensive as you have to pay every time you use their services, pay for the amount of time you use for your webinar, pay for the number of people who are attending your webinar, etc, etc.

But what if you could have unlimited webinars and it's free*? Even better... what if your webinar function is built into your website where you can not only promote when you are going to perform your live webinar to every visitor that comes to your site (so your visitor can make time to watch you), but when a visitor  does a google search and lands on you clinic's website while your performing your live webinar, they will be instantly notified that you are performing a live lecture!

Think about it...  your visitors will not only get to know you, but you'll build rapport  and trust with them.  How powerful do you think that would be in getting those visitors as new patients?  Do you think that those visitors would more likely book an appointment after they see you live than if you just had some static chiropractic website?  How about if your visitors could interact with you online and ask you questions... and you can reply back?  What if your visitors can  download your Gift Certificate during your live webinar? How about if you could perform as many webinars to as many people as you want for free*?   If this was all possible, can you see how your clinic would blow up with new patients?


Promodocs.com has developed an advanced webinar feature that is exclusive to Promodocs Chiropractic websites that has all the above features already built in and it comes included in your Promodocs website!

Sorry...I know that was a total plug for our chiropractic websites, but we are so pumped about being able to provide our clients with this amazing feature simply because it is truly one of the MOST effective ways to market and grow your clinic quickly.

4. Sensible Shoe Stores - These are shoe stores that sell "sensible" shoes (e.g. Walking On A Cloud Shoe Store).  Again, like with the pro-shops, ask to leave promotional postcards at their sales counter.

5. Promotional Hats - For the winter - wool hats with your logo (everyone will wear it in the winter) or golf hats in the summer with your logo.  Just like the wool hats... everyone will wear them and they will get noticed!

6. Auto-Responders - A MUST HAVE on chiropractic websites (This is why we have included them in our Promodocs Chiropractic Website designs.  This is when visitors come to your site and request information and have to leave their email address to get it.  What happens here is that your website captures these emails and automatically emails out to them newsletters  about your clinic and the benefits of chiropractic.  WARNING: DO NOT barrage your leads with emails (eg. 3-4 or more emails per month) otherwise you will irritate your leads and they will remove themselves off your mailing list and you'll lose them forever.  The ideal amount of time is to email your leads once every 3-4 weeks

7. Radio"Ask The Expert" - now, this is not a passive patient acquisition technique because you have to go out to a studio and do it live. But I have included it here because... A. it's so fun to do.  B. you get huge numbers of new patients (especially if you do a call in show). C. you tend to get NPs days and weeks after the show (hence the reason I have included it in the list).  I used to do a lot of Ask The Expert on the radio and it was awesome.  Take my word for it and give it a shot.

8. Mobile Text Message - Just like in point #6, this is not really passive, but the WOW factor and the referrals after makes is passive.  At the end of the day, text message your new patients and message the following "Hello {patient's name}, this is my personal cell phone number.  If you ever have any question or concerns, please do not hesitate to contact me. Yours, Dr. {your name}" 

This will blow your patients away!  This is not like calling your NP from your office and saying the same thing  and giving out your clinic number.  Here you are showing that you take a real personal interest in getting them better by giving them your personal mobile number.  You'll be surprised how many friends and family members your patient will tell.  You'll get a lot of referrals from just the one little thing.

9. Inhouse Referral Promotions - I left this for one of the very last ways for passive patient acquisition, simply because we all know about it and do them.  But I wanted to mention it because so many clinics have these promotions, but the "prize" is so lame.  Lame like a bank giving away a toaster when you open a new account.

What I suggest is having a competition within your clinic where the patient that refers the most people (and that undergo care - you don't want patients to send just anyone ~e.g. some tourist they met on the street from Guatemala that's leaving the next day~ to your clinic just to get their numbers up) wins the grand prize.  The first time I did this was when surround sound for home theaters were expensive and was the hottest thing going. You should have seen the number NP that came in!  It was amazing AND the majority of them were long term patients.

So don't give away a free water-based pillow, a pair of orthotics or some other lame boring item ... make it cool, exciting and motivational.  Like a trip for 2 to Mexico or something.  This will not only exponentially bring up the energy and excitement in your clinic, but it'll drive a lot of new patients into your office.

10. Lastly... and as cheesy as this may sound... be awesome.  Be awesome to yourself, be awesome to your family and be awesome to your patients and in return, you'll acquire new patients that pay, stay and refer.  Being great, kind, and caring IS passive patient acquisition!  Because when you do it everyday to everyone you meet, it simply becomes reflex action... it becomes effortless.

We have come to the end of the list of ways for Passive Patient Acquisition.  Remember, I have done almost all of these techniques and they have worked.  So chose as many as you can that you are comfortable with and start doing them this week.  Even if you do half of them, and each one only brings 1 NP/mo... that's 50 new patient... or 600 NP in one year!


Good luck and start today!


A SPECIAL NOTE...

We at Promodocs would also like to say a special thanks to all the docs that have read our blogs, like our facebook fan page, emailed us with your question, and supported us.  And to show our appreciation, we have designed a Chiropractic America and Chiropractic Canada print ready T-shirt design (based on the Captain America Shield) that you can receive FREE!

All you have to do is contact us by going to our website at http://www.promodocs.com and let us know which print ready image you want (or if you want both) and we'll email it right off to you!

To your clinic success,
The Promodocs Team

* the Promodocs Webinar feature is included in the monthly Promodocs website maintenance fee.

Clinic burnout is a VERY common occurrence, whether you have a  busy clinic or a struggling clinic.

If you have a busy successful clinic, burnout can come from constantly having to go out to promote your office or almost being like a robot and repeating the same chiropractic message/script to your consults, ROFs and existing patients or from having to quickly bounce from room to room adjusting patients.

If you're just opening up a new clinic or you have a struggling clinic and you're burning the candle at both ends trying to make a go of your clinic and just trying to pay the bills.

Regardless of how you get to clinic burnout, the experience is the same...

• Dread knowing that Monday is tomorrow and you have to go to the clinic.
• Just don't want to get out of bed to face another day at the office.
• Don't want to spend another weekend doing another promotion.
• Don't have the energy and the focus to give what your patients need.
• Always tired during the work week, but have lots of energy on your days off.

We've all been there!

The great thing is... there are easy ways to re-energize and get back that excitement about practicing like you had on the last day of classes at your chiro college. And I'm going to tell you about it right now!

Here at the TOP 6 ways to get out of a slump...

1. The Pareto Principle: A.K.A. the 80-20 Rule - roughly 80% of the effects come from 20% of the causes.  That is to say,  get rid of the patients that just whine and complain and bring down the energy in your office.  Do the promotions that bring in the best patients.  Don't waste your time on all those other promotions that only bring in a few, but  you have to spend HOURS getting those few. Of all the task that you have to do, only 20% of them matter.  So ONLY work on that 20% as those are the ones that will drive 80% of your business/clinic.
   
   
2. Write It Out: Often people become overwhelmed because they feel that they have so much to do and they just don't know where to start.  So they start tasks haphazardly and just spin their wheels and get no where because they are jumping back and forth from task to task trying to get everything done.   AND at the same time, busying themselves doing less important tasks and NOT the important ones that will truly benefit them and their clinic. But, if you write out your task in a list format, you will realize that you actually have less to do to achieve your goals and you'll know which tasks are the important ones.
   
   Here's what I do... on my wall (in my home office), using cue card, I have 3 columns.  The first column is the "To Do" column.  2nd column it's the "Doing" column.  3rd column - "Done" column. So I then write down each task on 1 card and put them in the "To Do" column and as I start a task, I move the card into the "Doing" column.  When I finish that task... I move the card into the "Done" column.
   
   You will be AMAZED how it removes your stress levels!  Because now you see what you actually have to do (and as  you move the cards to the "DONE" column you get a lot of satisfaction as you see your tasks getting completed) AND you realize that it's a lot less than you think you actually had to do.
   
   
3. Go On A Spontaneous Vacation: Right now, think of a place you want to go to (the Caribbean is really cheap this time of year), book it for 3-7 days from now (so that you give your patients the heads up), and then just take off!  Ya, you heard me... just jet!  I did this.  During a super stressful time in my life (and I had an insanely busy office), I took off for 3 weeks.  You might be thinking, "What are my patients going to think?!"  Well, when I got back after 3 weeks, NONE of my patients said anything and the clinic started back up as if I never left!  My advice... JUST DO IT!
   
   While I was on vacation, I not only came back super charged and ready to go back, but I also came back with amazing marketing and promotional ideas that built up my clinic that much more! And more importantly, my patients were feeling much better from my adjustments because I was able to focus more!
   
4. Change Up Your Clinic:  Paint the wall, get new chiropractic posters, new flowers, new furniture etc.  Don't have the money for that? That's fine.. then just rearrange your furniture, change the patient flow patterns in your office, change the music in your office to more pop or energetic music.  If you are already playing pop music, switch it up to jazz or ambient music.
   
   Instead of wearing jeans and a T-shirt or golf shirt in the office, wear dress pants and a dress shirt or vice versa.
   
   Or have some fun contest in your office.  Do some Give-Away to the patient that brings in the most referrals within the month, organize a food drive. do a Chiro Quiz Contest (i.e. make up a sheet of 10 questions about chiropractic that your patients have to answer and hand in on their next visit.  Then at the end of the month have a draw - person who's name is drawn must have answered the Qs correctly.  Winner get a gift certificate to a nice restaurant).
5. Go to a Chiropractic Seminar:  Although you may think that you're the only one suffering, believe me, YOU'RE NOT ALONE!  A great place to get motivated, learn new ideas, get the moral support you need, is from Chiro Seminars.  Not only is it a great escape from your office, but it sets your mind straight so that you can get back into the game.
   
   
   And My ALL Time FAVORITE... with LASTING Results...
   

   
   
6. Network With Other Chiros (WITH A TWIST!):  First of all get a Magic Jack (i.e. internet phone where you can call anywhere in North America (and some other countries) for free.
   
   Second: Find successful chiropractors in different states or provinces.  I did this by Googling different chiropractic websites. I had 2 main criteria that I used to gauged a successful practice...
1. Quality of their website - Was the site just slapped together with no thought just so that they had a website, or did they have a high quality site because they took pride in their clinic.
2. How did the office look - Did the office look professional, clean and modern or did it look like just a plain office with typical M.D. office chairs, plain walls, and just really no thought involved.

If the office met my criteria, I would call them up to talk to the doctor and tell him/her that I was forming a private group of just a few select docs where we can share marketing and promotional ideas, how to make our practice more fun, etc.

At first, I was met with hesitation because the chiros didn't know if I was their competition down the road.  So I told them that I am calling docs from completely different states so that there is no conflict of interest and we can openly share our insider secrets without having the office down the road using them. 

Over the last few days, I have seen a Facebook post going around of a clinic's ad that says, something to the effect of, "Unlimited Chiropractic Care for ONLY $49.00!" (similar to the ad above).

And a ton of chiropractors jumped on the thread... some bashing the marketing campaign and some supporting it.

Those that were knocking it stated that it was devaluing chiropractic, that it was an insult to the chiropractic profession and that it was sending out the wrong message about chiropractic.   Whereas those that were in support of these clinics/ads were saying that by providing such an offer, it makes chiropractic more affordable and therefore assessable to more people.

Now, I should state that I have never used this type of marketing and I don't think that I would have ever used it if I still practiced.

Promodocs is very excited to announce that they are presently developing groundbreaking chiropractic website designs that are truly revolutionary! 

HAPPY NEW YEAR DOCS!!!!
I hope that this year brings you all great happiness, health and prosperity!!!

So on the prosperity note... I thought that I would show you how to get MASSIVE exposure for your chiropractic clinic!  You may be presently doing some local marketing on a small scale (btw... stay tuned as I am going to talk about how you can make your local "small" chiropractic marketing in to a "Small"  POWERHOUSE marketing plan that will bring in tons of new patients), but why not start the New Year with a Go Big or Go Home marketing blitz?!  lol

Did you know that the words you say to your potential new patient while saying how great of a doctor you are, can actually drive them away from your chiropractic office AND make them lose respect for you?  And the reason is NOT what you think!
It is in my opinion (and many of my friends that also have bikes that watched this show) that Jesse James built a far better bike and that the placing should have been... 1st - Jesse 2nd - Paul Jr. 3rd - Paul Sr.

Paul Jr.'s bike liked like a bicycle from the 1920-30's with some pompous man with a full suit and cap on riding it down a country lane.  Whereas, Jesse's bike looked like a real bike, was completely hand made and functioned as a real bike, but he came in second.

And here is the reason... if you watched the series from the start of the competition, Jr. never once put down the other competitors, however Sr. and Jesse did.  Even at the very end, when the host encouraged Jr. to fight back and insult the others, he refused.  In fact, even when he did comment on Jesse's bike (not seen in the video) he didn't say it was a bad bike, but instead said that Jesse had made better bikes.

Because Jr. did not put anyone down and was a man of integrity (and he had an decent bike - although a small factor in the decision), he won.  Even if someone liked Jesse's bike more, chances are they voted for Jr.'s bike because of his ATTITUDE (as I would have done if I could have voted).

So in this long winded way, what I am saying is... DO NOT KNOCK YOUR COMPETITION OR OTHERS IN ANY HEALTH CARE PROFESSION.  For in trying to make yourself look better, you are actually making your new consult lose respect for you!


So now you may be asking, well what if the chiropractor down the road is a scam artist and that he only wants to rip his patients off, he's not as good as you, or whatever the case may be.  Well, my advice is to not even mention it to your patient because your patient doesn't know this to be fact and will most likely interpret that as you simply bad mouthing another doctor in your profession and YOU will look untrustworthy.

The best way to win a patient over, to get them to trust you and to have faith in you is to tell them about your achievements, why you're different, what separates you from others (this can be done without putting down your "competition"), etc.

Remember from my last blog, tell your new consults your "Competitive Advantage".  If you want to compare yourself with others, you could use the term "Industry Standards" or some variation of this phrase.

Be like Paul Jr. keep your integrity high at all times and you will have new patients at your door that will ALWAYS want to refer their friends and family!

Here's to your clinic success!!
HAPPY HOLIDAYS!!
Promodocs
http://www.promodocs.com
Chiropractic Posters for Chiropractic Clinics
email - contactus@promodocs.com

p.s. I just want to thank you all for the amazing response to our last blog!!  We had a record number of emails sent to us saying how helpful it was and how so many chiropractors overlooked such an important element to their practice.

Remember, we love when you email us your questions and comments, but you can also leave your comments in the box below.  We welcome your good and bad comments!  :)

So now your new consult has been brought down to your office for you to get their history and to perform your examination on them.

What do you do?  Well.. you have to build rapport.


In my office, I had pictures of me with different people in the media that I have done TV or Radio work with and I also had this big blown up photo of me when I was in Berlin, Germany and I was standing in front of these 3 armoured personal carriers joined together to make an arch and behind that was the wall.

Anyways, it was a really cool pic and it really sparked up a good conversation with the patients (as did the other pics that I had).  So it was a lot easier to start a conversation and instantly build rapport with my consults.

Also, if you have Thank You cards from patients, place them on your desk so that the inside message can be seen by your consults when they are sitting.

Okay, so in our last blog we discussed how to improve the look of your reception area.  Your reception area is the very first thing that patients see and what they use to make their snap decision on whether they like your clinic, trust you, and think that you are competent enough to treat them.

Next, they see your receptionist! So here we're going to discuss how to make your chiropractic receptionist a power house in helping you close your consults and converting them to new patients!

For the sake of writing, I am going to write as if you have a female receptionist.

Before I go on, I want to be perfectly clear that the techniques that I am sharing in these blogs is to be used only to convert your consults that are suitable for chiropractic care.  Unfortunately, all too often patients have a negative outlook on chiropractic and so these techniques are used to help you get your consults to drop their guard and their preconceived ideas, and to understand the great benefits chiropractic care offers.

That being said, let's move to the topic at hand...

First... Appearance.  We are not going to hold back on this and we may sound insensitive, but we are not going to make apologies.  It goes without saying that you want your receptionist to have a professional clean look. No jeans. No shorts.  At our office we had 2 full time receptionist that wore blue scrubs and white lab coats with our clinic logo embroided on it.  Some chiropractors may not like this look as it gives your chiropractic office a medical office feel.  I will get deeper into the "Medical Office" look on another blog, but this was the look that we were going for... and it worked... and it worked well!  With our chiropractic marketing, we were seeing 80-100 consults per month and had an extremely high closing ratio.

It is important to have your receptionist's hair clean and tidy.  I cannot tell you how many clinics I have been invite to, to help them restructure their clinic and saw their receptionist hair straggly and oily looking... like they haven't washed it in days!  Just like the doctor should be clean and tidy, so should your receptionist!  Having untidy receptionist instantly bites into YOUR credibility as a doctor.

Does your receptionist smoke?  If so, does she wreak of smoke?  How are you to encourage your patients to live a healthy lifestyle when your own worker is living an unhealthy one? 

Does your receptionist hang her coat on the back of her chair?  If she does make her hang it up on a coat rack or in a closet. It may seem like a small thing, but it's another sign of sloppiness and laziness.  Two very unappealing things consults don't want to see.

Bottom line... just like you, the doctor, should look professional... your receptionist should do the same.  After all, your chiropractic receptionist is an extension of you!

1. Have your receptionist STAND UP and greet your patient warm sincere smile.
2. Have them shake your consults hand - using either one or two hands.  Grasping your consults hand with 2 hands when shaking typically indicates that one is more caring and nurturing.

After your receptionist introduces herself, have her give your consult the intake form on a nice clip board with a nice pen (not those 25 cent bic pens with the blue cap!) and have them place the "Welcome Gift" on top.

1. Excites your consult about your care.
2. Gives them something to read while waiting to see you.
3. Makes them remember the information that you explained to them about your care when they are home.
4. Can share the information with their spouse - get them on board too!
5. Great for referrals.

(If you would like to get a sample copy emailed to you, just email us at contactus@promodocs.com with the subject name "CONSULT HANDOUT" and we will gladly send you one.  If you need one designed for you, please let us know as well)


Have your receptionist say to your consult:

"Welcome to our clinic, we'd like to give you this little gift {describe what's in it} and please fill out your intake form to the best of your ability.  Also, here is some information about our clinic (if you are using a "Consult Handout".  Please take your time and if there is anything that I can do to make you more comfortable, please do not hesitate to ask.  Okay? {smile}" 

then follow by offering them a drink or something.


I cannot tell you how many clinics I have gone to where the consult sits in uncomfortable silence when waiting to be seen by the doctor. Why not take that opportunity to educate your consult and pump them up about starting care at your clinic.

One thing that ALL chiropractic clinics should have is a Reception room DVD (which Promodocs.com has nearly completed - our Promodocs.com DVD  offers what no other company provides AND you'll be amazed at how inexpensive it is!).

Also, have your receptionist talk to your consult.  People love to talk about their aches and pains and how it has impacted their lives.  This is a perfect opportunity for your staff to boast about how good your are at treating conditions just like theirs and if there is a previous patient that had the same condition and had excellent results, have your receptionist talk about that previous patient.

Better yet... if you have a patient in your receptionist room whom you have a great rapport with and likes to talk, introduce the two!  There is no more powerful selling point then a face to face testimonial!  This conversation alone, will convert your consult to an new patient!!!  We did it all the time and it was almost effortless to have consults sign up for care!

When it is time for you to see your consult, you can do one of 2 things...

1. You can come down to the front and greet your patient (which I personally never did - I'll tell you why in a  sec)
2. Have your receptionist walk your patient down to your office.

To address point #1.  Many chiropractic coaches will tell you that the chiropractor should come to the front and greet the patient.  A. Because medical doctors don't (and you want to be different from an M.D., right?!?!).  B.  It gives a more personal touch. 

I agree with this to a certain degree.  Point A... don't do it because an M.D. doesn't do it!  As much as you may not want to believe this, majority of people prefer and are used to the "medical" atmosphere.  I had one of the most (if not the most successful clinic in the country and we had somewhat of a medical like style - we didn't pretend we were M.D., but we had somewhat of a medical approach in our clinic.   But I will talk about this in another blog).

I, personally,  never made a point of going to the reception room.  In fact, over the 10 years of practice, I may have stepped foot in the reception room twice!

Why?  For two reasons:

1. Doctors that hang out at the front are not busy doctors.
2. I like to be with my patients in the treatment room so that my consults can sit around my office to look at all my degrees, media interview pics, letters from my patients, etc.   Plus, when you make them wait in your office, it will increase their likelihood of looking through your "Welcome Gift" and "Consult Handout" that was given to them and getting them excited excited about care.

None the less, whether it be you or your receptionist (again, I prefer the receptionist) bringing your patient to your office, give them a tour of your office and explain the services that your offer and if you can, INTRODUCE them to your patients!  Show your consult that people love coming here, they are getting better and that its is a friendly/family and fun atmosphere.  Introducing the consult to your patients will drop their walls instantly!

Well that's it for now!  I hope that this blog has helped you and will make your clinic that much more successful!!!

For more blog updates and other power packed marketing tips, join our Promodocs Facebook FanPage!

For great chiropractic posters that will get noticed and will drive your clinic upwards go to http://www.promodocs.com - all posters are ONLY $29.50ea and check out our FREE shipping offer!

Is all your chiropractic marketing drawing in patients, but your patients are just not undergoing care?

Promodocs.com is going to help you build your clinic by super charging each facet of your chiropractic office so that it is fully optimized to increase your rate of consult conversion!


First thing that has to be done, especially if you have been in practice for a long time (in the same office), you have grab a stranger off the street or a friend who has not been in your office and have them give you their first impression of your office.

Why a stranger or someone that has not been to your chiro office?  Because they will see things that you don't!  You are so used to seeing your clinic that you will not notice that it is looking untidy, dusty, out of date, boring, etc.  And I'll tell you right now... your reception is your first impression, if it looks like crap... your consults will put up their defenses, have a negative opinion of you and it'll be a lot harder to close them!

Maximized Chiropractic Clinic

Have you ever had patients that suddenly drop out of care?  Never talked to you or your staff about discontinuing care, they just one day didn't show up.  You had your staff call them to find out what happened and after the second time calling, they said that they didn't feel that they were getting better because they were still having days where they felt pain.


One of the most common reasons why chiropractic patients drop out of care is because they are not educated about how they will feel while undergoing chiropractic care.  Or, if patients are fully informed, they will soon forget as all that they want to feel is better.

All too often, chiropractors will tell their consults only the "good stuff" (e.g.. they are going to start feeling better under care, we are going to get you back to being active again, you're going to have the ability to do more and more while under care, etc.)  Although this is obvioulsy the main goal of any chiropractor, many chiropractors will neglect telling their patients the potential "bad stuff" because they are afraid that if they do tell their consults that, they won't undergo care.

Do you have tired looking chiropractic posters on your walls that no one notices?  If so, then you are probably in need to freshen up your walls with better chiropractic posters!

The sole purpose of chiropractic posters is to educate your chiropractic patients and to encourage doctor-patient communication, in the absence of the doctor!  Meaning, while your patient is waiting for you in your office, treatment room or reception, you want your chiropractic posters to always keep your patients informed thus making them better compliant patients.

But if your chiropractic posters are not being notice, then you might as well just paint over them...  because it is having the same effect as your painted walls are.

To see our complete line of posters and to take advantage of our FREE Shipping offer, please visit http://www.promodocs.com.

For powerful practice building ideas, join our Facebook Fan Page and Twitter page!